Desecrating corpses won't win America the world's respect

January 19, 2012

I am a 15-year-old American Muslim girl, and until now I have had to live with the shame brought by Muslims who represent an idea of Islam that does not even exist in the religion.

Now, after hearing about the obnoxious desecration of insurgent corpses by U.S. Marines in Afghanistan, I have to live with the shame of my fellow countrymen representing values that have no place in the fabric of American beliefs.

Yet part of me asks, what else would one expect? Not that these kinds of acts are in American culture, but in the sense that the terrorists have been making assaults on this country for so long it is by now probably very hard for Americans to set aside their feelings of anger.

I am angry at the terrorists, too! But this doesn't mean that we disrespect our enemies any way we want, because that will not strengthen our values or help to make us a good influence on other countries.

Instead, it will only make the world think of America as the opposite of "the land of the free, and the home of the brave."